Wednesday, July 27, 2011

This Monday evening we played out an extra game a Wild West gunfight game using the Warhammer Historical Legends of the West rules.

1880s baggage handlers....

Colin Jack provided the venue in his converted garage, the terrain and most of the figures. I supplied my own posse of lawmen. Colin was also on the side of law and order with his posse of Texas Rangers. Ray Neal selected an outlaw gang and young Isaac Neal selected a Mexican bandido gang.

Doc greets some of his favourite patients....

The rules are simple and enjoyable. We played out 2 rounds of 2 player games. In the first round Colin’s Texas Rangers took on Ray’s outlaws while my took lawmen took on Isaac’s bandidos.

Colin and Ray fought out their action around the train station, the claims office and the saloon. Ray’s outlaws suffered from the repeater fire of the Rangers and headed for the hills when they lost 4 of their side. In my game with Isaac we fought out a gunfight across main street interrupted by the stagecoach rushing past. I got more figures into action and the poor shooting of his peons meant that I had hit 3 of his gang whilst losing 2 of my posse when the other game ended.

Rangers take up post in the saloon

We used the useful campaign system to promote our figures in between games and in the trading I bought shotguns for all of my lawmen. Isaac sold of his peons 6 guns and equipped them all with machetes and in addition bought 3 more machete armed peons.

In the 2nd pair of games I took on Ray at the railway station end of town and Colin played Isaac’s bandidos in main street.

Rev Smithers prays for peace in Main Street

The action in my game took place around the train and the saloon. I had the advantage and numbers and the shotguns proved their worth blasting the saloon. Ray lost 5 of his 8 figures and headed for the hills after eliminating 3 of my upright citizens.

At the other end of town Isaac launched a peon machete mob from the cover of the Chinese farm against 3 of Colin’s figures. One of the peon’s fell over a pig and was delayed and most of the others were mown down by skilful (lucky) shooting from Colin. The Peons that got into hand to hand combat were outfought by the Rangers. The rest of Isaac’s gang fought on across main street passing multiple head for the hills tests. That game only ending when Ray headed for the hills.

Upright citizens search the train for outlaws...

A good looking game, simple and fun rules and enjoyed by all. The impressive train is an On3 scale model - O gauge sized train running on HO scale track - by Bachmann.

Friday, July 22, 2011

This weeks game at the SESWC was a 20mm Game of a fictional action from the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-21. All the figures used are from the B and B Miniatures range.
﻿

Red Army artillery and Kronstadt sailors await the attack

﻿
Background April 1920
In early 1920 the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic had lost control over most of Ukraine. The city of Kiev had undergone numerous recent changes of government. The Ukrainian People's Republic was established in 1917; a Bolshevik uprising was suppressed in January 1918. The Red Army took it in February 1918, followed by the Army of the German Empire in March; Ukrainian forces retook the city in December. During February 1919 the Red Army regained control; in August it was taken first by Symon Petlura's men and then by Denikin's army. The Soviets regained control in December 1919.

The forces of the exiled Ukrainian nationalist leader Petlura, head of the Ukrainian People's Republic, controlled only a small sliver of land near the Polish border. Petlura accepted Pilsudski's offer to join an alliance with Poland and on April 21, 1920 they signed the Treaty of Warsaw. In exchange for agreeing to a border along the Zbruch River, recognizing the recent Polish territorial gains in western Ukraine, Petlura was promised military help in regaining the Soviet-controlled territories with Kiev, where he would again assume the authority of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Pilsudski struck on April 25, and captured Zhytomyr the following day. Within a week, the Soviet 12th army was largely destroyed. In the south, the Polish 6th Army and Petliura's forces pushed the Soviet 14th army out of central Ukraine as they quickly marched eastward towards Kiev. The 14th Army has turned to make a stand at the important rail junction and regional centre of Vinnitsa 160 Miles west of Kiev.

The Polish train Smialy closes on Red village No 1....

Setup
The game of this delaying action was fought down a 8ft by 6ft table using the Contemptible Little Armies rules. Hugh Wilson and Colin Jack commanded the Polish Army with Joe Reilly commanding the allied Ukrainian Army. Ray Neal and I commanded the Soviet forces. I designed the scenario whilst Colin Jack provided the Polish and Ukrainian forces and I provided the Soviet forces.

How the Game Played
The red players deployed their infantry in a defensive line based on 3 farms with the armoured train and the cavalry brigade in reserve. The Polish players decided to attack with their 2 infantry brigades and the armoured train and all the Ukrainians whilst leaving their cavalry brigade in reserve for the advance on Kiev. They gained an early success knocking one of the Soviet field guns. The Polish infantry then advanced and got bogged down in an long and for them damaging action with the Red Infantry.

Polish artillery ranging in on Red battery

The armoured trains engaged each other and the Polish Train Smialy succeeded in destroying the gun carriage on the Red train Ilya Mourometz. Other than these hits scored by the Polish guns and a single Polish truck destroyed by the Red train the artillery on both sides proved very ineffective.

The stricken Ilya Mourometz

Eventually to break through, the Poles and Ukrainians committed all their 5 units of cavalry to a mass advance on their left. Their charges destroyed a Red Mg, the last Red field gun and 2 infantry units. Their reduced strength cavalry were then brought to a halt by the Soviet cavalry which had to be committed en masse to stop them.
﻿

Polish cavalry about to make their final desperate charges

﻿ The game ended at this point with the Polish players agreeing that they would not be able to break through towards Kiev. The Ukrainians met their secret objective which was to preserve their army and let the Poles do most of the fighting. This will be the figures last outing as I am currently selling my 20mm Reds on Ebay as we are now concentrating on 28mm figures for RCW and BOB.

Monday, July 18, 2011

This weekend we played out a large scale Back of Beyond game set in 1920 in Manchuria, Mongolia and the short lived Far East Republic in eastern Siberia.
This was a Colin Jack special with multiple players, hidden objectives, special events and lots of back stabbing.

Most factions had 3 units and 1 support weapon. Czechs had 2 units and 2 support weapons.
All started in a town which comprised 2 buildings and railway station. Anglo-American & Japanese shared Vladivostock which had 4 buildings and station.
Every 5 turns was a game day and revenue was collected from buildings and stations currently held and Resources held (mines, docks, farms). Revenue could be held or spent on reinforcements.
Czechs had no start town but held the Imperial Gold Reserve which gave them same income as a town.

Final victory assessed on basis of control of buildings, value of unused cash, and 2 specials - control of Tsar & family; control of Gold Reserve.

The tactical part of the game was played using Chris Peers’ Contemptible Little Armies rules. Simple and enjoyable rules - but as I discovered you can use units very quickly.

Mad baron rides down Chinese bandits - a crafty special event

How the game played
On the western side of the table in the area of Irkutsk and Chita my Red forces met disaster at the hands of both White players supported by the Czechs who reduced them down to a single holdout in Irkutsk. They were saved by support from Moscow - my thanks to the umpire - and by the Mad baron becoming engaged in a full scale war with the Chinese.
The Czechs only took one building in the game the church in Irkutsk and discovered the Tsar and his family hiding in the loft. Strangely they had been missed by the entire Red Army! The Czechs did have one bit of bad luck when they were attacked by 2 Yetis - who’s hides the Czechs sold to the Smithsonian collection

Dave Paterson - The Mad Baron - ponders his strategy...

On the east side of the table the Japanese and Anglo- Americans came to an agreement to divide Vladivostock and fought the Reds of the Far East Republic. An apparently limitless stream of US and UK units were thrown into a long campaign around the coal mine which eventually fell to them.

The Chinese after flirting with action against the Reds moved to attack the Mongols and even had the support of the only aircraft to appear over the table as a special event. It was eventually driven to the ground by a sandstorm! The Chinese did at the end of the game get to attack the yurts of Urga but were held back by the Mongolian militia. The Japanese in the last day of the campaign tried a coup in Vladivostosk but were fought to a stalemate by the Anglo-Americans and agreed an armistice.

Chinese airpower swoops on the Mongol hordes

The Czechs did get to all the way Vladivostock with the Tsar and his treasure but that was not enough to swing the result to them. The game was won decisively by Martin Gibson as White 1 based in Chita who played a quiet game except for attacking the Reds in Irkutsk and shooting a few Chinese and steadily secretly collected a huge amount of money. The least successful players were the 2 Reds. With extra support from Moscow I came in last just holding 2 buildings in Irkutsk. Hugh Wilson as Red 2 based in Khabarovsk was worn down by the constant attacks from Vladivostock whilst also engaging in a war with the Whites of Chita and the Chinese.

Despite my disasters it was fun! Here is the link to the Flickr photostream with all the photos from the game.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

This weeks game at the SESWC was a VBCW game - a refight of Stirling Bridge 1297 shifted to 1938. It was a follow up to a previous game we played which was a VBCW refight of Sheriffmuir 1715.

The game is part of a project by Colin Jack to refight historic Scottish battles in the VBCW era. The concept here and at Sheriffmuir is that these battles are part of a very late Jacobite rebellion led by the then 1930’s Jacobite pretender Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria.

Setup
The game was fought down a 8ft by 6ft table using the Triumph and Tragedy rules. The Jacobite army was advancing into the loop of land formed by the River Forth leading to the road and rail bridges across the river at Stirling. This is the reverse of the direction of the English attack in 1297.

Ray Neal, Hugh Wilson and Colin Jack commanded the Jacobite army. Dale Smith from Kirriemuir Wargames Club and I commanded the Government forces. I designed the scenario whilst Colin and Dale provided the troops.

View towards Stirling

GOVERNMENT BRIEFING - Brigadier Rex Arthur
Following the draw at Sheriffmuir you have withdrawn south to take up defensive positions south of the Forth at your main depot at Stirling. You have been joined by a TA engineer unit. Your plan is to use your local knowledge of the terrain and newly operational artillery from the RA barracks to destroy the enemy. The rebel force comprises Highland and Bavarian militia with some BUF cavalry. In total their force is you know larger than yours but mostly untrained. Regrettably Colonel Bartram of the Scottish Horse based at Dunkeld has thrown in his unit's lot with the rebels.

DEPLOYMENT
Units are deployed to the south of the river. They can be dug-in if they wish. The also have observers on the high ground to the south (off table) and can see any troops moving in the open to the north of the river.

Mg and artillery units can be deployed dug-in in concealed of the east and west sides of the table north of where the river crosses the table i.e. they are on the southern bank of the loop of land. Assume they are 12” from the edge of the table.

The bridges have been mined for controlled demolition by the TA engineers. These can be attempted to be exploded at any point even after the enemy has been crossing the bridges.

The Scottish Horse heavily reduced by artillery and Mg fire

REBEL BRIEFING - Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria
You landed at Inverness from a small coastal freighter but were disappointed that the highland rebellion was on such a small scale, far less than you had been led to expect. Nevertheless, Inverness and Perth were taken without resistance and no government troops attempted to engage your forces before the action of the Muir. Your army has gradually increased in size as volunteers have joined the rebellion but unfortunately most remain of poor quality. The only reliable troops are your own Bavarian bodyguard, a unit of BUF cavalry raised in the north-east and the Scottish Horse under Col Bartram who joined after your success at the Muir. The Scots militia while numerous have only enthusiasm and a certain élan to disguise their rawness. Your objective is to cross the Forth at Stirling and to gain control of the central belt.

Deployment
All units enter along either road A or B from turn ONE. Two units can enter per road per turn in an order determined by the players. Troops enter in column so each stand after the first has it move reduced by the length of the column.

Government advantage - artillery!

How the game played
The government side deployed their troops in the houses of Stirling south of the river with one machine gun deployed of table on the right covering the railway track. They held back an infantry unit and both cavalry units as a reserve in cover in the town.

The Jacobites were forced to advance on in columns and came under long range artillery and MG fire which stopped their initial units. Several units fled early on but they eventually got their forces deployed into line and advanced steadily on the bridges and did bring the Government forces under rifle fire. Their high point was when one unit of cavalry managed to cross the railway bridge - they were then charged by a government cavalry unit and both broke in the melee. Other than this their brave advance had little effect - their rifle fire only caused 2 casualties on the Government side whilst their troops withered under the heavy fire. The main disappointment on the Government side was with their engineers who’s repeated attempts to blow the bridges all failed.

Rebels reach the road bridge

It was never going to be an easy task for the Jacobites - they had numerous raw units who easily fell victim to the MG and artillery fire of the government side. If we were to play this game again I would add some armoured support and artillery into the Jacobite forces.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I have added a new page setting out the house rules that we have used or considered at the SESWC for our Black Powder games. Next week I will add some more clarifications and a suggested revised approach to Broken Brigades - the rules for which we have so far simply ignored.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

This weeks 28mm AWI game that I arranged at the SESWC was based on the Battle of Hubbardton 7 July 1777 using Black Powder Rules. We used it as a further test of an amended turn sequence which has been proposed in the "& Blenheim" rule modifications by Ian Hopping available on the Yahoo BP Forum.

﻿ Some History
The Battle of Hubbardton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that took place on July 7, 1777. Hubbardton is a community in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for Thomas Hubbard, a landholder. It is still a quiet rural area as the population was 752 at the 2000 census.

A Patriot force of 1,200 men, primarily composed of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont Continentals acting as a rearguard covered the retreat of the Patriot army retiring from Ticonderoga. They were attacked by a pursuing force of approximately 1,000 British, loyalist and German troops commanded by Simon Fraser and Friedrich Riedesel.

The Setup
The game was fought across a 6ft by 4ft table. Given the table size we used the 66% version of the movement and ranges but left proximity and command radius at the standard 12 inches. The terrain was assumed to be wooded except for an area of open ground in the centre of the table. The 24 figure units were classed as standard units, the 12 to 16 figure units as small units. The figures are mainly Front Rank, with Foundry Jaegers and Old Glory British Light infantry. Colin Jack commanded the British Army with Hugh Wilson leading the German reinforcements. Mr Ray Neal of New Haven, Connecticut commanded the Patriots.

Background and Patriot Briefing
In June of 1777 British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's forces pressed southward from Canada on Lake Champlain, as part of Burgoyne's plan to split off New England from the rest of the American colonies.

As they closed in on Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in Orwell, Vermont, American Major General Arthur St. Clair made the difficult decision to withdraw from these forts and save his troops for a future encounter. General St Clairs troops left Fort Ticonderoga on 6th July 1777 hastening to put as much ground between themselves and the pursuing army of General Burgoyne in their retreat to the south. The weather was hot and the march, along the rudimentary track through the forest, was heavy going. After 26 miles the Americans reached Hubbardton, a minute hamlet. St Clair marched on, leaving Colonel Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys to await the rearguard of Colonel Francis’ 11th Massachusetts and Hale’s 2nd New Hampshire Regiments.

Once the rearguard reached Hubbardton, Francis and Hale decided to camp overnight in the hamlet to allow their men to recover from the rigours of the evacuation of Ticonderoga and the long march. They assumed they had outstripped the British and German troops and put out no proper picquet line.

Now at 5:00am as your camp is stirring for breakfast you hear musket shots from the north and the picquet rushes in to say that the British are upon you. You have to hold this position as long as possible to prevent them closing up on the main army.

Background and British Briefing
In June of 1777 British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's forces pressed southward from Canada on Lake Champlain, as part of Burgoyne's plan to split off New England from the rest of the American colonies.

As they closed in on Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in Orwell, Vermont, American Major General Arthur St. Clair made the difficult decision to withdraw from these forts and save his troops for a future encounter. General St Clair’s troops left Fort Ticonderoga on 6th July 1777 hastening to put as much ground between themselves and the pursuing army of General Burgoyne in their retreat to the south. The weather was hot and the march, along the rudimentary track through the forest, was heavy going. After 26 miles the Americans reached Hubbardton, a minute hamlet.

Brigadier Simon Fraser has pressed the pursuit and that night camped near to Hubbardton knowing the Freiher Riedesel and his Germans were camped 3 miles further north.

Your Indian scouts report that at least the rearguard of the rebel army has decided to camp overnight in the hamlet of Hubbardton to allow their men to recover from the rigours of the evacuation of Ticonderoga and the long march. The scouts report that the rebels have put out no proper picquet line.

Your force resumed the advance at 3am based upon an understanding with Riedesel that he will march at the same time to your support. At 5pm you have upon the Americans as they are breakfasting, and promptly order the attack.

How the game played
The action opened with the British left advancing rapidly to engage the Patriot left who they mistook to be all militia. It was a Patriot trick of dressing a unit of Continentals in buckskin! The British right advanced slowly closing up on the clearing.

The 24th Line closed to short range of the militia who disordered them with their first volley. The British replied using their First Fire and did not score a single hit. Appalling shooting! Eventually the 24th charged home on the militia and broke them which caused the supporting 11th Massachusetts to retire. Then the 24th and the Light infantry scored 4 unsaved shooting hits on the 11th Massachusetts who broke and fled as well.

On the British right the Grenadiers supported by the Loyalists had become engaged in a fire fight with the riflemen and the Green Mountain Boys. At this point the German (actually Brunswick) reinforcement column under Riedesel arrived and moved to support the Grenadiers.

Grenadiers stalled in front of the Green Mountain Boys...

The Green Mountain boys advanced into the clearing to engage the Grenadiers while the New Hampshire unit swung round on the Patriot left to envelope the Loyalists. The New Hampshire men blundered and retired back to their starting point. The Green Mountain Boys were more than holding their own against the British and Brunswick grenadiers but were undone when the British left wing unit’s - the 24th Line and the Light infantry moved against them. The Lights charged and meleed with the riflemen while the 24th hit the Green Mountain Boys in the flank and after 2 rounds of hand to hand combat broke them. It was obvious by this point that Livingston's column was not going to arrive - there was a very low chance that they would - historically the troops he tried to march to the action refused and continued to retreat.

The game ended at this point which was clearly a British victory with 3 Patriot units broken and the British army intact. Heroes of the day were the British 24th line, the Patriot Riflemen who held of the Light infantry for 2 rounds of melee and the Green Mountain Boys who did well until weight of numbers overcame them.

Victorious British left wing swings into the centre...

This is the first time in any of our AWI BP games that the British Army has won! This was despite the British shooting, which except for 1 turn, was truly appalling - a barrage of 1s and 2s. Possibly because the game was played on 7th July the date of the actual battle.

Rule changes
We used the amended turn sequence in this game and my revised rules for moving in forests. In addition we decided that it was more realistic not to allow units to interpenetrate as part of a charge move.

Patriot Riflemen hold British Light infantry....

What happened historically
The Americans formed a line stretching through wooded country, with hills on each flank. Fraser sent his grenadiers to climb the hill to the American left and outflank them. The hill was steep and the encircling move took longer than expected. In the meantime Colonel Francis attacked advanced around Fraser’s left flank, reinforced by some of Hale’s regiment who were returning to the battlefield. Fraser, whose force was inferior in numbers to the Americans, found himself in some difficulty. Eventually the Grenadiers crossed the difficult terrain to engage the American left flank whilst the German troops under Riedesel arrived and attacked the American right. Under this attack the Americans finally gave way with Col Francis being mortally wounded.

Casualties:
British and German casualties were 14 officers and 195 soldiers. American casualties were 12 officers and 300 soldiers. As the British held the field the American wounded were mostly captured.

Follow-up:
The American retreat to the South continued with the British failing to pursue. The casualties were high in this battle for the number of troops involved, reflecting the determination of the American Continental Regiments.

Friday, July 1, 2011

This weeks game that I played at the SESWC on Thursday evening was a 20mm World War II action using the Rapidfire rules.

Colin Jack and I provided the troops. The game was played on an 8ft by 6ft table. I adapted the scenario for Rapid Fire and for our available troops from the Breakout from The Niemen scenario on Bob McKenzie’s excellent web site on WWII 20mm and 1/300 Wargaming.

A motorised German force is advancing from the recently taken bridges over the Niemen near Olita on the afternoon of the first day of Operation Barbarossa with their objective being to expand their bridgehead.

﻿

Germans advance with Teutonic efficiency...

The German force consists of a tank battalion, with supporting infantry, engineers, artillery and motorcycle troops. Initially the Soviet defenders have part of a motorised rifle battalion, the remains of a T28 battalion that is retreating in front of the Germans and a battalion of T34/76s.

﻿﻿﻿The Germans are constrained by the capacity of the bridges so that their forces are fed piecemeal into the action. Only 2 companies a turn can appear on the table from turn 2 to turn 4 but from turn 5 they can deploy an extra company on the northern approaches.

FOR THE USSR strikes at the invaders

The Soviet’s have their own problems in that all their tanks are rated as poor for morale purposes and test morale by battalion. Importantly the players also have to dice to see if the impressive numbers of Soviet tanks on their OB are still actually running or have fallen out on the way to the action.

The Germans attacked with their best initial tank company advancing straight down the road onto the table. The Soviet players countered by advancing with the 2 T28s which survived the retreat and 3 of their T76s. The Germans gained an early success knocking out a T28 and forcing the other to retire 2 moves. The fire from the T28s and the T34s however wiped out the German tank company. More German units were fed on and chewed up by the Soviet armour.

To add to their misery the German column then came under air attack from a Soviet I-16 fighter which severely hit the pioneer company. A superior ME109F put in an appearance but was driven of by the heroic I-16 FOR THE USSR! A company of Panzer 4s then joined the action on the main the road but also suffered from the Soviet fire and having lost a tank retired to cover. The ME109F reappeared and went down in flames to AA Hmg fire.

FOR THE USSR gets the fascist in his sights

The soviets then received their reinforcements - most importantly in the 2 tank units 5 BT7 and 5 T26 got to the table. A German Stuka appeared and made 2 impressively bad bombing runs! Finally a unit of PZIIIs and PZIIs with artillery support got onto the table from the northern route and managed to rout the survivor of the 1st section of T34s and the entire BT7 battalion. They then came under heavy fire from the surviving section of T34s. On the main route the surviving T28 and the newly arrived T26s ruled the day.

﻿﻿

Main German drive crumbles into smoke and flames

﻿﻿

To late and to little - ineffective Stuka bombing run

An enjoyable game. Until turn 6 the Germans had not got far onto the table and they had not gained much more ground when we ended on turn 10. We agreed that this is a very hard game for the German players as long at the Soviets keep rolling good morale dice for their tank units.